Tag: Veterans for Peace

Cuban UN Ambassadors Visit to Connecticut

by Henry Lowendorf, Greater NH Peace Council and Millie Grenough, City of NH Peace Commission

Perhaps the highest level Cuban diplomatic delegation just visited Connecticut since Fidel Castro stopped at New Haven’s Union Station on his way to Boston in 1959. On September 9 and 10, Cuban United Nations Ambassadors Pedro Luis Pedroso and Yuri A. Gala made the extraordinary trip to Connecticut to celebrate the passage of two resolutions by two major city councils that call on the United States to end its illegal 62-year blockade of Cuba.

Photo: Paul Bloom

Their appearance was also the occasion to encourage further such resolutions and various collaborations between Connecticut and Cuba.

“Extraordinary” because the US blockade extends its economic and political war on Cuba to limiting the movement of Cuban diplomats at the UN to a small radius of Manhattan, violating the agreement by the US to honor the right of UN representatives to travel freely. Permission to travel to CT was based on a formal invitation by the CT state legislature, led by Representative Edwin Vargas of Hartford.

The two anti-blockade resolutions were passed respectively by the Court of Common Council of Hartford in 2021 and the New Haven Board of Alders in 2022.

Overall, the Cuban delegation to Connecticut was organized by Wallingford resident, Cuban-American José Oro, a leader of No Embargo Cuba, along with a large coalition of Cuba solidarity and peace activists from around the state. Oro described one glaring effect of the blockade as preventing Cuba from obtaining ventilators from Switzerland to provide life-giving oxygen to seriously ill Covid-19 patients because a small percentage of ventilator parts are manufactured in the US. Despite the blockade, Cuba was able to develop three successful vaccines. The global solidarity movement was called on to provide syringes, another item blocked from Cuba.

The first stop for the delegation was a working breakfast at Quinnipiac University where President Judy Olian welcomed the Ambassadors, who spoke on the priority that Cuba has given to education, the cost of which is fully covered from elementary school through college.

Quinnipiac Professors Mohammad Elahee, Matthew O’Connor and Osman Kilic explored the possibilities for faculty and student exchanges, micro-lending, small-business and sustainable development, and medicine and health.

Following Quinnipiac University the delegation met state and Hartford city legislative leaders and Cuba solidarity activists in the State Capitol, City Hall and the union office of Local 1199.

On Sept. 10 the delegation arrived in Willimantic to meet with state Rep. Susan Johnson, City Council member Emmanuel Pérez, Professor Ricardo Pérez of Eastern CT State University, Black Lives Matter leader James Flores, and leaders of the Willimantic Rainbow Connection, Power UP-Coventry and Veterans for Peace. Subsequent actions are planned to develop a sister city relationship and to pass a no-blockade resolution by the Willimantic City Council. Middletown and Hamden are exploring similar resolutions.

On Saturday afternoon the New Haven Free Public Library welcomed the Ambassadors who spoke and answered questions from a large audience. José Oro [aforementioned organizer and Wallingford resident] announced a new effort to reverse the cruel and false US listing of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

At a farewell gathering, Joelle Fishman, Acting Chair of the City of New Haven Peace Commission, presented gifts from New Haven to the Ambassadors. Al Marder and Henry Lowendorf from the Peace Council, and John Lugo from Unidad Latina en Acción expressed gratitude to the Ambassadors for strengthening the human connection with New Haven and Connecticut. Jesus Puerto, owner of Soul de Cuba Café provided delicious Cuban dishes to nurture the relationship.

 

VFP Video Contest Comes to New Haven Tuesday, July 29

Veterans for Peace organization is having a nationwide Music Video Contest for songs connecting “Climate Crisis & the War Machine.”

This ties in perfectly with the

  •  New Haven Peace Commission Referendum that you helped put on the ballot – thanks to you, 83% of NH voters moved YES to transfer money from military to human needs
  • Earth Day Event on April 23 where Johanyx, Manny and other youth climate and justice activists spoke so eloquently about these issues
  • Where Do We Want Our Green to Go?

Peace Commission Member and musician Fred Brown and I said, Let’s do it!

We are excited about collaborating – with you – to create a music video to enter the contest. We are ready and eager to make it happen.

Thanks to Delores Williams, our soon-to-be new Peace Commission Member, we have the invitation to meet in the wonderful space at People Get Ready Bookstore.

– We warmly invite you to join us this coming Tuesday at 5 pm at People Get Ready Bookstore, 122 Whalley, right next to Papa John Pizza

We’ll have fun making a music video of the Where Do We Want Our Green to Go? song to submit to the contest.

Please come and lend your energy and voice to the Call-and-Response. (I’m attaching a copy of the song + a few relevant facts.)

Feel free to invite others. Tell them not to worry if they’re not good singers – what we need is live energy!

Fred will bring microphone, amp, camera, keyboard; I’ll bring my bass fiddle. You – bring yourselves and friends, young and old.

Hope to see you in person this Tuesday at 5 pm at People Get Ready Bookstore, 122 Whalley Ave.

We’ll do a couple of fun run-throughs to get us warmed up, then hope to record it and have it wrapped by 6 or 6:30.

Maybe some pizza on the People Get Ready Bookstores benches afterwards!

Hu Woodard, Veteran for Peace, June 24, 1924-Feb. 26, 2018

It is with great sadness that we inform our readers that Hu Woodard, well-known, dedicated and compassionate peace activist, has passed on. Many of you worked with Hu and his wife Edith throughout the years on a multitude of issues for peace and justice.

The memorial will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 31 at the Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. Our deepest condolences to his family. He will be greatly missed. The following excerpts are from the website www.iovanne.com/obituary/Hubert-Calvin-Henry-Woodard/Hamden-CT/1784606.

With the support of his church community, he became a conscientious objector in World War II and chose to serve as a noncombatant medic in the U.S. Army. He went behind enemy lines to rescue wounded soldiers and saved many lives, earning two Bronze Stars and ten other medals and citations, including the Combat Medic Badge. His unit liberated several prison camps, and the horror of the human suffering he witnessed there stayed with him; Hu spent the rest of his life working for peace. Most dear to his heart was working on issues of social justice and peace.

Hu was an active participant in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, peacefully protesting racism in its many forms. As a member of SANE-New Haven he was an outspoken opponent of nuclear testing and arsenals.

Hu vigorously opposed the Vietnam War and frequently marched for peace. In 1999 Mayor John DeStefano appointed Hu to the New Haven Peace Commission. Hu always put his voice, pen, and body into action, peacefully. The files containing his letters-to-the-editor and to state and national leaders were inches thick! Hu’s memorial website has photos and excerpts from his files: huwoodard.virtual-memorials.com.

In 1992 Hu helped organize a local Veterans for Peace group, which then formed the Hue-New Haven Sister City program. Their goals included people-to-people reconciliation and humanitarian aid. Hu once commented that his trip to Vietnam in 1997 was one of the most meaningful experiences of his life.
Hu was tired of seeing toys that glorify violence. To raise parents’ awareness in November 1997 he organized a Violence-free Toy Fair, just prior to the holiday buying season. The event was held at the CT Children’s Museum in New Haven, where he was treasurer.

Hu and Edith were longtime members of the Unitarian Society of New Haven. He served as both treasurer and president of the church and was co-founder of the Social Justice Committee, which is still very active today.

Major Conference on Closing U.S. Foreign Military Bases

Henry Lowendorf, U.S. Peace Council

A broad coalition of U.S. peace organizations has created a major conference in Baltimore, Jan. 12 to 14 — to launch an international campaign to close U.S. foreign military bases.

Major speakers at the Conference on U.S. Foreign Military Bases include Ajamu Baraka, 2016 Green Party vice presidential candidate; Col. Ann Wright, former diplomat, leader of CodePink and Veterans for Peace; David Vine, Associate Professor, American University, author of Base Nation. For a complete list of speakers, visit this link.

This coalition came together to unify the U.S. peace move-ment around a common goal. There is still time to register for this important initiative: http://noforeignbases.org.

Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases, Unity Statement (partial)

While we may have our differences on other issues, we all agree that U.S. foreign military bases are the principal in-struments of imperial global domination and environmental damage through wars of aggression and occupation, and that the closure of U.S. foreign military bases is one of the first necessary steps toward a just, peaceful and sustainable world. Our belief in the urgency of this necessary step is based on the following facts:

  1. While we are opposed to all foreign military bases, we do recognize that the United States maintains the highest number of military bases outside its territory, estimated at almost 1000 (95% of all foreign military bases in the world). Presently, there are U.S. military bases in every Persian Gulf country except Iran.
  2. In addition, the United States has 19 naval air carriers (and 15 more planned), each as part of a Carrier Strike Group, composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, and a carrier air wing of 65 to 70 aircraft — each of which can be considered a floating military base.
  3. These bases are centers of aggressive military actions, threats of political and economic expansion, sabotage and espionage, and crimes against local populations. In addition, these military bases are the largest users of fossil fuel in the world, heavily contributing to environmental degradation.
  4. The annual cost of these bases to the American taxpayers is approximately $156 billion. The support of U.S. foreign military bases drains funds that can be used to fund human needs and enable our cities and states to provide necessary services for the people.

This has made the U.S. a more militarized society and has led to increased tensions between the U.S. and the rest of the world. Stationed throughout the world, almost 1000 in number, U.S. foreign military bases are symbols of the ability of the United States to intrude in the lives of sovereign nations and peoples.

Peace and Fact-Finding Delegation visit Syria

by Henry Lowendorf, Co-Chair, GNH Peace Council

From July 24 to July 30, I co-led a delegation of peace activists and journalists to Syria. In talking with leaders of many NGOs and government ministers, we learned that the vast majority of Syrians support their government and the Syrian Arab Army, which protect them from mercenaries that terrorize the populations they control and which are paid for by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and armed by the CIA. The CIA provides supplies and free passage into Syria through Turkey and Jordan. Syrians believe in, and the UN Charter supports, their right to determine their destiny without interference from the United States and its allies.

syria-mapMy co-leader, Gerry Condon, vice president of Veterans for Peace, said this: “Almost everything we read about Syria in the media is wrong…The reality is that the U.S. government is supporting armed extremist groups who are terrorizing the Syrian people and trying to destroy Syria’s secular state.”

“In order to hide that ugly reality and push violent regime change,” continued Condon, “the U.S. is conducting a psychological warfare campaign to demonize Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. This is a classic tactic that veterans have seen over and over. It is shocking, however, to realize how willingly the media repeat this propaganda, and how many people believe it to be true.”

The Syrians we spoke with, especially Grand Mufti Hassoun and Orthodox Bishop Luca, refuse to see themselves split into narrow groups such as Sunni and Shia, or Muslim and Christian, or Kurdish or Arabic-speaking. This U.S. and Europe formulation is used to divide Syrians as it has with Afghans, Iraqis, and Libyans in order to weaken and conquer Syria. The Grand Mufti told us he is the Mufti of 23 million Syrians, the full Syrian population. The Bishop agreed.

The U.S. peace movement’s premier responsibility is to stop our government’s interference in Syria, its long-held policy of “regime change,” overthrowing the Syrian government to install a subservient client. We must allow Syrians to retain their national sovereignty. Once the foreign aggression ends, Syrians will decide who governs Syria.

For more information, call Henry Lowendorf at (203) 389-9547 or e-mail [email protected].